How to Sway Luxury Event Meeting Planners

Focus on Luxury Hoteliers in a four-part series about helping hoteliers understand which features and services offered at their properties most impact a meeting planner’s intent to return, in part 3, Unifocus research exclusive to HOTELS Magazine focuses on the luxury segment.

According to the performance solutions provider, identifying luxury properties’ strengths relative to the market segments they are attracting offers the ability and potential to impact marketing and sales strategies for growth, while fine-tuning operational delivery.

Overall, combined key opportunities relative to the meeting planners who recently hosted events within the luxury hotel segment include the following areas, which if performance growth could be obtained could result in an increase in meeting planner satisfaction and loyalty:

1. Knowledgeable and helpful staff
2. Overall friendliness of staff members, before and during the meetings
3. The management and planning of the event

The key opportunities for association event planners, and the attributes that hotels wishing to target the association market segment for growth include:

1. A flexible approach to event management and planning
2. A friendly, knowledgeable and helpful staff, before and during the meetings
3. Contact in plenty of time to plan the meeting successfully

To improve satisfaction and loyalty ratings amongst the planners hosting corporate meetings and events, luxury hotel operators should be aware of the following key opportunities:

1. Staff overall knowledge and ability to help, before and during the meetings
2. Food and beverage service during the event
3. Quality of the food and beverage

Hoteliers in the Luxury market wishing to better understand and improve performance within the SMERF segment should be aware of the following key opportunities:

1. Excellent follow through with requests during planning of the event
2. Overall knowledge, ability to help before and during the event
3. A flexible approach to event management and planning

By focusing on what is most critical to meeting planners’ satisfaction and intent to return, by market segment, hotels can better target markets where they excel, while increasing return business and referrals.

View the original article on HOTELS Magazine